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Of course the parking problems get aggravated when there are events in Antigua Guatemala and thousands of people are expected to arrive. Then, any available spaces becomes a temporary parking lots. With this entry we finish the mini series about the parking problems of Antigua Guatemala. Let me know your thoughts about it.

One of the reason for why most of streets in Antigua Guatemala are one-way is because once the parking areas are occupied the streets are too narrow. This is even true of the roads around La Antigua as you can see in the picture above where you can barely fit two buses each going on the opposite direction. Also, because there are not enough parking spaces many people have opted for also owning a motorcycle as well and using it for moving around town. The extremes of each block (about 20 meters on each side) are allocated for motorcycle parking only as reported on Motorcycles Are Us.

People also use bicycles, although there are NOT bicycle parking spaces or even accommodations for the most ecological means of transportation on the streets of Antigua Guatemala. I believe that bicycles could be a great solution for many of the parking and obesity problems of antigüeños, but there needs to be marked bike paths on all the roads and bike parking accommodations throughout town to make bicycle riding the preferred means of transportation.

What do you think, what successful bicycle riding programs have you heard about?

Parking spaces or rather the lack of parking spaces is among the most challenging problems that Antigua Guatemala is facing right now. Antigua spends millions of quetzales each year to keep up the cobblestoned streets which were not designed for motorized vehicles like automobiles, trucks and buses when first implemented over 500 years ago. Heck, not even the streets were designed for the vehicles we used today and that’s why the streets are narrow and in many cases have to be one-way streets because otherwise there wouldn’t be any space for parking.

That’s why people use chairs, crates, rims, chains, trash cans, anything really as parking space reservations. Of course, that’s illegal because the streets are public and nobody can claim to own the space in front of their office, clinic, restaurant, etc.

Among some of the solutions I have heard are to create huge parking lots just outside the Antigua Guatemala entrances and turn the streets into pedestrians throughways, well at least the streets closer to the Plaza Mayor. Still, I don’t think a viable solution has been found yet or it’s being implemented.

Do you have a parking problem where you live?

For some reason, Arcángel San Miguel is quite popular in Guatemala.
Around Antigua Guatemala there at least two communities that carry San Miguel as part of their name. Do you know why San Michael is so popular as a patron saint for so many towns?

These are some of the names of villages, towns and communities around Antigua Guatemala: San Juan, San Miguel, San Critóbal, San Bartolo, San Felipe and of course San Pedro, which by the way is celebrating its patron saint today. Read the aside below for more information.

Ephemerides Aside: San Pedro Las Huertas celebrates its patron saint on June 26. You can follow the white rabbit through all the posts about the Guatemalan Fair to see how the people of San Pedro Las Huertas celebrate their patron saint.

We continue the Catholic Decorations series with an image of San Cristóbal (Saint Christopher). Because Christopher offered protection to travelers and against sudden death, many churches placed images or statues of him, usually opposite the south door, so he could be easily seen. He is usually depicted as a giant of a man, with a child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand. In England, there are more wall paintings of Christopher than of any other saint; in 1904, Mrs. Collier, writing for the British Archaeological Association, reported 183 paintings, statues, and other representations of the saint, outnumbering all others except for the Virgin Mary (Source: Wikipedia).

Two villages of La Antigua Guatemala have San Cristóbal as part of their name. Do you know what villages are these and where are they located?

Angels are, of course, the most often found catholic imagery decoration found in La Antigua Guatemala. The wooden angel above can be found hanging at one of the walls in La Palma restaurant in Antigua Guatemala. So, we began the Catholic Decorations series with Archangel San Miguel (Saint Michael), we continue with a “regular” angel and tomorrow we’ll take a look at San Critóbal.

La Antigua Guatemala has to be most catholic town in Guatemala, heck make that Central America. Nowhere is Catholicism more solidly embedded in the culture, traditions and identity that in La Antigua Guatemala. This is why the Semana Santa is such a grandiloquent event. Almost all the celebrations in Antigua Guatemala are around a catholic feast, including the Fiestas de Santiago (Saint James Feast) since Santiago is the former name of this colonial town and Santiago is thus the patron saint for Antigua Guatemala. Yesterday and today for instance there are all kinds of light yellow and white decorations in churches, buildings and private homes to observe the Corpus Christi.

So, it comes as no surprise that catholic imagery is often found in private homes and in public places like restaurants, hotels, museums, et cetera. Today we begin a mini-series about catholic decorations found in public places. Already I have shown you how the Catholicism has influenced the colonial architecture style of La Antigua Guatemala, which includes niches with saint figures as published in Casa Antigüeña: The Niches.

Below, I leave you the song “Saint Behind The Glass” by Los Lobos from the album Kiko which goes quite well the beginning of the Catholic decorations series. Enjoy!

Jardín Antigüeño is also another series that needs to be awaken. Jardín Antigüeño is a photographic tour through the most often found flowers in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala.

La Antigua Guatemala is known as the Ciudad de las perpetuas rosas, the city of the perpetual roses. Well, surely you can find roses everywhere in and around Antigua Guatemala; there are even rose farms near La Antigua that grow roses for exportation to the U.S. and Canada.

However, I believe the name should actually be Ciudad de las perpetuas bugambileas or the City of the perpetual bougainvilleas as these flowers can be found everywhere in Antigua Guatemala at any given time. Bougainvilleas are really perpetual flowers and an integral part of the jardín antigüeño, Antigua garden. Bugambileas, as they are known in Spanish, go by scientific name of Bougainvillea glabra and belong to the Nyctaginaceae family. Bougainvilleas can be found in red, violet, purple, fuchsia, red, orange, gold, yellow, pink, white, burgandy, terra cotta, kite red, and in light and dark shades of many of the aforementioned colors.

Hotel + Museo Casa Santo Domingo takes very seriously the museo, museum, part of its name. Not only there are several museums and galleries inside the Casa Santo Domingo complex, but you can find art pieces all over the corridors, gardens, open spaces and of course inside the hotel walls. I believe that it is important to highlight that all the art adorning the walls and hallways is from Guatemalan artists.

Have you visited or stayed at Casa Santo Domingo?

Tomorrow, August 1, the theme day for the City Daily Photo community will be Bright colours. I figured I get a head start with a bright coloured image of one of the guacamayas, macaws, found inside the patios and gardens of Casa Santo Domingo, which is, by the way, one of my favorites spots in La Antigua Guatemala. I love just walking around the gardens with all kinds of fountains and the hallways full with art.

Wait a minute, why don’t we take a little tour through the images we can find inside Casa Santo Domingo, a sort of mini series; do you want to come along?

On the weekends Calle del Arco is turn into a pedestrian strip and several business bring out benches, carts and flowers and plants in huge pots. Lots of people take advantage of these sitting spaces to have their photo taken or simply to take a break.

The picture above is another vista that ” …helps to show that Guatemalan colours and shades are everywhere and are part of the beauty of the Land of Eternal Spring ®” as Manolo put it.

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Often we hear that Guatemala is a country of contrasts. Even I try to show it often and what better way to show the contrasts of Guatemalan women than yesterday’s photograph of capitalinas sporting the latest garments in fashion and today’s picture of three indigenous women wearing the traditional corte or Guatemalan hand-woven skirt.

I was lucky to capture these beautiful Guatemalan women taking a short break from selling their handicrafts the passing tourists on Calle del Arco.

What do you think of the series Guatemalan women so far?

The people from Guatemala City are known as capitalinos; residents of the Capital city. Women from Guatemala City would be capitalinas. La Antigua Guatemala is a popular weekend destination for capitalinos (as) since it’s only an hour separates the Old Guatemala City from the New Guatemala City. So, it is on the weekends that we can see what’s in fashion and trendy in Guatemala City.

Today’s photograph came to be by pure accident, chaos, synchronicity or serendipity; call it what you want. I was taken shots on Calle del Arco when I noticed the Pollo Campero truck parked at one of the intersections, displaying Campero’s advertising. Since earlier I had already taken other pictures depicting the sponsorship of the Holy Week, I thought I should continue capturing photos showing the penetration of businesses in celebrations and traditions. So, there I was trying to focus and frame the truck’s advertising just right when these two capitalinas literally walked into the picture. The split-second decision was easy, I pressed the shutter release.

Last Monday 8 of March was celebrated the International Women’s Day through out the world. I believe women should be celebrated everyday, so this week I will be sharing with you photographs of Guatemalan women, each different, but all of them special.

We begin the week with the beautiful smile of an usher who welcomes people and escort them inside one of the restaurants on Calle del Arco. What better way to begin the series Guatemalan women than with a big happy smile?

The first step of making the Guatemalan washbasin is to set the concrete mold pieces and then filling it with concrete. The concrete mold pieces are covered with burnt oil so they don’t stick to the fresh new concrete. The whole process from setting up the mold pieces to putting the final details like white dots, takes about 24 hours.

I have to share with you that I was also pretty ignorant about how pilas were made and having Don Eduardo González explained every step of the process was an eye-opener. I hope you enjoyed this mini-series. Let me know what questions you would like to have answered.